FRANCHISE ANALYZER

7-Eleven got its name from the fact that it was once open from 7am to 11pm - unusually extensive hours considering the year was 1946. The story of this high profile brand of convenience stores goes back even further than that, though. In 1927, founder Joe C. Thompson purchased the Southland Company from his former employers. He then opened up several convenience stores and called them Tote’ms. By the time the newly expanded hours and accompanying name change were implemented, Thompson’s franchise had grown substantially and has continued to do so throughout the decades. There are almost 40,000 7-Eleven stores around the globe and now they are all open 24 hours a day.